My latest adventures...

I type this slowly with a banged up a wrist, and what feels like a broken foot from coaching my softball team on how to successfully slide in a game. I certainly succeeded at showing them both the right, and the wrong way to do it. This, however, is not the adventure I wish to discuss...

Apparently, last Friday night, April 20, I discovered a new video game ailment. As a kid I certainly had my fair share of 'nintendo or genesis thumb,' and since getting one of those new Nintendo Wii's I have also discovered Nintendo arm, leg, neck, all around sore body with as interactive as the new system is. But now there is also what I like to call "Wii Seizure."

Last Friday, while playing the boxing game from Wii Sports I passed out, feel to the floor on back and proceeded to go into a seizure with convulsions, foaming mouth and eyes rolled back in my head, the full deal really. As far as I am concerned, it was due to a bad mix of not eating right, low blood sugar, general exhaustion, lack of sleep, and staying up past my bed time. I take it as my body's way of saying, "knock it off and go to bed."

The seizure lasted about 1 minute while my wonderful wife rolled me onto my side, which is when I apparently just went to sleep and started snoring (I've gotten quite good at that). I woke up to find paramedics walking into my living room. The awesome thing here is that 3 of the 4 paramedics are members of our church, Lake of the Woods. God didn't just send me an ambulance to make sure I was ok, he sent me my church in an ambulance. I love being a christian. :) Having God on your side is DEFINITELY a good thing.

I was hauled off to Mary Washington Hospital, got my cat scanned ("My cat's ok, I can play." "Scanned your cat? Billy Bob, they gave you a catscan. They said you have a brain, and it works, and you can play?That's awesome Billy Bob.") Lindsay and I made it home about 3pm.

Now if you've never had a seizure before, let me tell you... DON'T. It's such a pain in the butt! Every muscle in my body went tense and I woke up the next morning feeling like I'd been hit by a truck with as sore as I was. It's been over a week now, and my chest and back are still aching something fierce. Not only the sore muscles though, but when you have a wife that actually is concerned for your well being, she makes you go see doctors to make sure there's nothign wrong with you head.

Thursday I had the joy of getting an EEG done. They put a bunch of plugs and wires on your head and measures and records your brain activity. The results: There is nothign wrong with me at all and there is no reason whatsoever for me to have had a seizure. Guess what that means... more tests! Since this test shows that there is nothing wrong with me, they want to give me more tests! I have an MRI scheduled for this Wednesday night, and 24 hour EEG scheduled later this month when I get to have those plugs on my head ALL DAY LONG.

As I learn more about the fact that this was a freak occurence and that there really is nothing wrong with me I'll certainly pass that information along.

:)

Overall update on Life...

No great picture with this one, but I wanted to drop a few words about life in general for me now, and how I've gotten to this point since I left Longwood back in 2000.

I taught for a year in Fredericksburg at Walker Grant Middle School (6th grade science). It's actually kind of depressing because many of the students I taught that year are graduating from high school... I don't like feeling old. After a year there, I packed my bags and headed west, landing eventually in the suburbs of Seattle (almost as west as I could get in a two seater MR2).

I taught 8th grade math for a year out there getting burned out on teaching in general, like most teachers. I made some great friends while I was teaching there and still have moments when they're greatly missed. During that first year, I built a house and had thoughts of staying there for good. The northwest is definitley one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen, and if you ever get the chance to visit in the summer jump on it. (The winter sucks with all the rain, but the summers are about as perfect weather as you can get). I got a job working at Best Buy after leaving school and proceeded to have every piece of my geeky side flourish. It was a great place to work, with 3 great friends that will never be forgotten. Ward, Dean, and Tristan.. I miss ya guys, especially the D&D sessions and movie premiers.

While I was out getting my head on straight the two most important things that have ever happened to me came to fruition. I finally got a full grasp on my faith as a Christian, really coming to believe and learn what it means to be a Christian, and to live my life as one. I still consider myself a Catholic at heart, (and always will despite the many obvious conflicts I have with the Catholic Church), but to fully grasp, believe, and start to understand what being a Christian is all about was/is life changing.

The second was winning back the love of my life, Lindsay Herl (Sutton now!). She and I had dated off and on during my year of teaching in Fredericksburg. To call the relationship tumultous is certainly an understatement. We broke up when I left (because I was a world class idiot), and it took me about a year to realize just how stupid I was. It took a couple of years of begging, pleading, and more than anything else, honesty to win her heart back to me. She took me back, and after 3 years I finally left Seattle and headed home to Viriginia in the summer of 04 with a transfer through Best Buy.

I won't bore you with the details, but I do want to give a very special thanks once more the Solloms and the Broadhursts for being second families for me when I needed them the most... especially a bed and sofa to crash on while rebuilding my life once more.

I got out of Best Buy that summer, and began teaching again. Teaching at AG Wright Middle School. I'm now teaching 7th grade Math in the exact same classroom I took 7th grade math as a student, with my 7th grade math teacher just down the hall from me. How weird is that? Lindsay and I got engaged in December of 2004, and were married December 10, 2005. We lived in small apartment for a year while our house was built down in Locust Grove. (no kids yet.. but hopefully won't be too much longer)

And so, there ya go. That pretty well sums of the last 7 years or so of my life. There were a lot of laughs, (and a few tears), along the way, but I've loved every minute of it. I hope to hear from everyone and rebuild old friendships and share and hear the stories of how everyone else is.

Sutton Manor

I can hardly believe it, I've actually now done two postings, in only two days. Ok, so it's the last day of my spring break (gotta work this weekend), and what else am I going to do?

So, for those of you who haven't seen or heard much from me, here is Lindsay and I's house in Locust Grove, VA (The OC baby!). It's an old photo, but the lawn needs mowing before I go take a new picture. We moved in back in August of 2006, and have enjoyed the place since then. It even has an unfinished basement to give me something to work on for the next 30 years!

My first blog... aww...

Scouring the pictures archive of a beautiful photo of my wife Lindsay certainly isn't difficult, but finding one that I'm also in (and that doesn't ruin the picture either) can be. This was at our reception on December 10, 2005 after sharing our first drink together.

This will hopefully be the first of many pictures and blogs to come. I'm new to this whole blog thing (Can you imagine me being slow on a piece of technology? It scares even me...), but after seeing how wonderful my sister in law's is, I was just too jealous to wait any longer. With any luck, I'll actually update this at least once a week. I look forward to hearing from everyone!